I have a relative who keeps giving me food for birthdays and Christmas, as if I need some sort of C.A.R.E. package or I'll die. Worse, it almost always contains that microwavable popcorn. I have bags and bags of it, from years ago, occupying my cupboard. Popcorn is about the last thing I'd made for a snack - a good piece of toast will do fine.

However, I did make a batch a few months ago, while "Deep Blue Sea" was on T.V. Problem is, I burnt it, and the stink the stink the stink! Then, I didn't want it to go to waste so I tried eating the "non-burnt" popcorn at the top, but even though it was unburnt, it was saturated with burnt taste and smell!

I had some very old popcorn left over from some school fundraiser or other, and I popped the last of it tonight. In a pan on the stove, none of this nuclear crap. It was delicious, but there is no more.

I have never used my fireplace in the 21+ years I've lived here. It dries out the air too much and would damage the piano. Also, smoke aggravates my and Mr. Thing's asthma and Miss Thing's allergies. I pop my popcorn in a pot over the stove.

If I had a cat that could sell my house, I wouldn't need to sell my house!

And I do know that people selling their houses do bake bread or make popcorn just prior to a home tour so that it smells more homey. I strongly doubt that anything but dynamite can cover the scent of cat pee.

Ah yes, PETA - definitely a force to be worried about. A very, very large freezer facility was installed at one of their offices to house the animals they put down. Slightly at odds with their mission statement!

Yeh, Peta are ... um ... let's just say I don't take them at face value these days. Here's one good account, if not totally ... well ... I don't automatically believe anything these days. http://www.nathanwinograd.com/?p=1199

Penn & Teller did a, "Bullshit" investigation on Peta a while ago. Was a bit concerning.

Well, there is more than him out there. Just google "peta animal freezer" and you'll come up with all sorts of reading material. One particular quote from another site stated, "8 adoptions out of …. 2,366 animals taken in. Yes, a 97.3 percent kill rate, their “best” since 2006. Since mid-1998, the group has killed 23,640 pets."

It's messy. The walk in freezer was back in 2002, if I recall. From what I read, and I have to admit that I'm only drawing a conclusion from the bits and pieces that I've read over the years, people wouldn't be too much against PETA if they weren't so over the top and, in doing so, setting some very high standards, publicly, for themselves, with all the high drama. So when things like this come out, they fall a long way.